Public Land Navigation

[Singing Bridge]

I think Dan had a post on here not long ago that you don't hear much about, regarding the use of transitions to keep from getting lost. If you are hunting along them anyway, such as a marsh butting up against woods, It is pretty easy to follow along even after dark.

In Michigan's U.P. a buddy and I scouted some islands that were about a mile and a half back in. There were no trails and we had never been there before. To get there you had to wear hip boots and the cover was very dense, with visibility about ten to fifteen yards at best. On the way out he followed me, and whenever I knew he couldn't see I took a quick glance at my neck compass. After the long hike out, by pure chance I glanced ahead and saw a small patch of my tailgate on my truck up ahead. I maintained our pace, walked up to my truck and put the tailgate down, acting like I knew exactly where it was and had walked directly to it. We had come back a completely different way to the truck and my buddy was astounded that I seemingly had an "internal" compass and gps.

The legend of my woodsmanship grew even more after that day.

[johndeere506]

I have a good sense of direction and I try to look at aerials before going out. Ive never caried a compass but a few times wished I had when I got confused.

Im using Onyx maps on my phone now and its really cool, if I have Verizon signal that is. I cant see buying a GPS when the phone app seems to do it all/most. Am I missing out?

[dan]

I have a good sense of direction, but its a stubborn one... One that is so stubborn it occasionally argues with a compass. Thats an argument it seldom wins.

[JoeRE]

I have a good sense of direction, but its a stubborn one... One that is so stubborn it occasionally argues with a compass. Thats an argument it seldom wins.

Been there too, well put!

[ihookem]

The only time I ever argued with my compass id when I knew it was wrong. ( luckily I knew) I came across a place bout a mile back in da woods and was getting dark. Pull out the compass and it spins in circles with the arrow pulled down. I got out no problem but was lucky. The compass got tossed but yrs later it accurs to me I was on a iron ore deposit in Price co.

[Dewey]

The only time I ever argued with my compass id when I knew it was wrong. ( luckily I knew) I came across a place bout a mile back in da woods and was getting dark. Pull out the compass and it spins in circles with the arrow pulled down. I got out no problem but was lucky. The compass got tossed but yrs later it accurs to me I was on a iron ore deposit in Price co.

Had that happen myself. Nothing is worst than being deep and seeing your compass dial spin on dark moonless night with no idea where you are. This was the days way before GPS's and smartphones. I walked a little further and everything was good again.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[ihookem]

Dewey, was this in Vilas co.?

[Dewey]

Gogebic County in UP

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[stash59]

I'm old school and just carried a compass and when I felt I needed one a map/aerial. Navigated alright in northern Wisconsin and Montana just fine.

Just bought a GPS. A Garmin 62 something. I can load aerials on it. I put way points on it that I had figured would be likely spots for beds. Then plotted a course to roughly follow so that I wouldn't miss any of my way points.

My best new piece of equipment is my new digital camera. A Canon. First digital. I found it on Amazon for about half price. I was mainly looking for a little better quality. But it also has a GPS feature. If you turn this on the camera automatically records the GPS location where the picture was taken.

So if I find a rub I Take a pcture that shows me height. Then when I get home I can place the pics on another program from Canon that I can load on Google earth. I then go through the pics and use my smaller chosen marker to indicate the age class of the buck that made the rub according to the height seen in the pic and place it where it had been marked from the Canon program. I did run out of battery on it once and had to come up with a short hand to use on my GPS that took much more time for me to do. With my movement disworder it's hard to type on a computer let alone a phone or similar sized object.

Once everything is posted place and or patterns start to appear.

In thick cover or longer walks I've used somekind of reflective material to aid travel in the dark. I stated with tape on clothes pins, but came to prfer the reflective twist ties. In ares close to where other people could see this like roads I'd make piles of whatever material was available to mark which trail or whatever to take off it. I'd place these 20 to 30 yards before the actual location so as not to give it away. I always used the red light feature on my headlamp so I could keep my night vision. this help with keeping sticks out of eyes but even in heavy cover it's amazing how you can come recognise where you are by what you see on the horizon. Even if it's basically straight up.